Corporate Profits Fuel Dow’s Rise

Stocks posted strong gains on Thursday, as robust corporate earnings and a rising dollar propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to a new high.

The Dow average climbed 23.17 to 4,230.66, breaking its record of 4,208.18 set last Thursday. The Dow opened stronger, waffled in late morning, but then rallied steadily into the close.

Blue chip indexes posted the strongest gains. Analysts said the earnings of large, multinational companies have benefitted from the flagging dollar more than smaller companies have.

Advancing issues had a slim lead on decliners on the Big Board, with 1,184 up, 1,038 down and 769 unchanged. Big Board volume was moderately heavy at 365.69 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 378.5 million Wednesday.

Traders said they were surprised at the market’s resilience at such lofty levels.

“Somewhere, some place, this is going to end,” said John Burnett, a stock trader at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities, “but until it does, you might as well enjoy the ride.”

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday:

NYSE

IBM rose 1 7/8 to 89.

The world’s largest computer maker reported a $1.29 billion profit in the first quarter, nearly four times its earnings in the same period a year ago and sharply above Wall Street estimates.

Compaq rose 3 5/8 to 35 3/4.

IBM’s personal-computer rival reported first-quarter net earnings of 80 cents per share, even with 80 cents reported in the first quarter of 1994 and slightly above analysts’ expectations of 79 cents.

General Motors fell 1/8 to 43 7/8.

The stock ended lower, despite rallying for most of the day, after the automaker said its first-quarter profit more than doubled to a record $2.2 billion.

NASDAQ

Lotus rose 2 1/8 to 32 7/8.

The software maker reported a first-quarter loss of 36 cents per share, compared with a net gain of 45 cents a year ago. Revenues declined on softer desktop software sales and slower growth in its Notes software. But The Wall Street Journal reported that analysts speculated that directors might be willing to sell the company.

AMEX

Cheyenne Software rose 1 1/8 to 15 3/8.

After the market closed, the company reported third-quarter net income of 20 cents per share, including a special charge, down from 25 cents a year ago.